Couldn't find a thread on this, but has anyone thought about the emergency slide from the upper deck? That would be one heck of a drop, and think of the friction burns!!! Suppose they could water cool it like an aqua park. Would love to see the first demo's of an evac for certification!

Seriously, I once had a jumpseat landing in a BA 747 in the good old days, and before we landed the FO ran through the emergency evac procedure from the cockpit - go up through the hatch and then down the side via a rope. DON'T JUMP! you're 3 stories up!

The exit slides are currently the best and fastest alternative to getting out of a plane quickly in an emergency. They are not a very good way because they result in injuries in the form of broken bones, scratches and burns. The A380 will just result in more of these injuries if it has to be evacuated. Fortunately planes are rarely evacuated, so the risk isn't that high.

There is no real way to eliminate the burns and heat. The slides are made out of a very high friction material so that you will not hit the ground at a very high rate of speed. Unfortunately the high friction means that all of that Gravitational Potential Energy of you standing 20 feet above the ground turns into Thermal Energy, but the benefit is less Kinetic Energy when you hit the bottom, so you don't move as fast.

There is no truly good way to evacuate a plane. A set of stairs at each exit would be safer, but they would weigh a lot, and require more exits since you will not go down stairs as fast as you can go down the slide. If anyone can think of a good way to get people off a plane quicker and/or safer then slids, you better get a patent, because you will make a lot of money selling your idea to A and B.

If you have never designed an airplane part before, let the real designers do the work!